079 Go Back and Tell
Hey Ant, you found that food alone, and then you walked all the way home to tell everyone where it is.
When did we last do that?
When you find something good, do you go back and tell?
A grain of sugar falls on the kitchen floor. One ant finds it.
An hour later, there is a line of ants from the crack in the wall to the sugar.
What really happens
When many kinds of ants find food, they go back to the nest and leave a scent trail on the way.
Other ants follow the trail to the food. One ant's find becomes the whole colony's meal.
How we know: Ant recruitment with scent trails is one of the best-studied behaviours in insect science.
The turn
When we find something good, a job opening, a great teacher, a useful idea, we often keep it to ourselves.
The ant walks all the way back to share it.
Three takeaways
- Good finds are for sharing.
- Leave a trail others can follow.
- Your discovery can feed many.
Find it. Then go back and tell.
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.